Despite scrounging out three runs to tie the game on two separate occasions in the fifth and seventh innings, the Houston Astros just couldn't manage to get past reigning AL MVP Mike Trout in the 6-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels.
With an epic lightning show going on outside Minute Maid Park with the retractable roof closed on a stormy Friday night, Trout showed exactly why he was the 2014 MVP slugging out two home runs - the 100th and 101st of his career - to lead the Angels.
"He put two really good swings on the ball, and he burned us both time," Astros manager A.J. Hinch said.
Judging from first three innings, the Astros looked to be in for a good night with starting pitcher Roberto Hernandez collecting nine-straight outs against the Angels in their first trip through the lineup. In the fourth inning, facing Hernandez for the second time, Los Angels leadoff hitter Kole Calhoun smacked a triple up Tal's Hill in centerfield for his team's first hit, and later scored on a Matt Joyce sacrifice fly. Hernandez managed to escape the inning allowing just the one run, but ran into trouble in the form of Trout's first homer of the night - a two-run shot - in the sixth with one out. Hernandez finished the inning, but his night was over after 96 pitches and six strikeouts.
"Very good outing for him, he kept a lot of people off base, he had a lot of traffic out there on him, he made a lot of pitches. I was happy with his outing," Hinch said. "We'll take outings like that out of Roberto and more times than not, we'll be in a position to win."
The Astros managed to claw back into the game after Jason Castro's first home run of the season - a solo shot - in the sixth inning followed by two pinch hit singles and walk leading to a George Springer sacrifice fly - missing a grand slam by short distance - in the seventh to tie the game at 3-3. Jed Lowrie hit into a double play in the next at-bat to end the inning.
"We seemed to scratch and claw a couple runs, or one run at a time, and never got multiple hits in a row," Hinch said. "We got runs to get back in the game, I thought that was going to be a real big inning, then they get a double play ball."
The game didn't remain deadlocked for long as a single and walk by Astros reliever Chad Qualls in the eighth inning set up Trout's second homer of the night to put the Angels on top for good 6-3.
"I know how to attack him, I just didn't execute the pitch," Qualls said. "I had him set up for what I wanted to do, and I just didn't execute it that one time. And he didn't foul it off or miss it, he ended up hurting us with it. That's what good hitters do when we make mistakes, they jump on it."
Entering the game, the Astros ranked among the worst in the league batting with runners on base. Hinch attempted to shake up the lineup by moving Chris Carter to seventh in the order instead of the five-spot, and moved Evan Gattis down one spot to five. While Gattis recorded two hits, one of which was a double, the lineup changes had the same result with the Astros leaving six men on base despite eight hits in the game.
With the loss, the Astros drop to 4-6 on the early season and will face the Angels again on Saturday attempting to even the three-game weekend series.
Follow Shawn Ramsey on Twitter: @ShawnPRamsey
MORE FROM FOX SPORTS SOUTHWEST:
- Predicting awards and winners of the 2015 MLB season
- Ranking NFL quarterback salaries
- 21 Fun Facts about the NCAA tournament
- Highest paid player of each NBA team
- College football's highest paid coaches in 2014
- Highest paid player on every MLB roster
